Connolly to serve as top Democrat on tech panel

Democrats may no longer have a majority in the House of Representatives, but Rep. Gerald Connolly has at least managed to snag a committee post that will be key to his Northern Virginia district.

Connolly, now in his second term representing portions of Fairfax and Prince William counties, has been named the top Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform.

"I am honored that my colleagues on the OGR Committee selected me as the lead Democrat on this important subcommittee," Connolly said in a press release. "I look forward to serving side-by-side with the new Republican chairman to seek bi-partisan solutions to the challenges facing thousands of private-sector businesses involved in government procurement."

Officially, Connolly's subcommittee has "jurisdiction over public information, including Freedom of Information and Advisory Committees, federal information technology and data standards, procurement and grant reform, the relationship between the federal government and states and municipalities, including unfunded mandates. The subcommittee also has oversight jurisdiction over public broadcasting."

With a district abounding in government contractors and high-tech firms, the assignment makes sense. (Rep. Tom Davis (R), whom Connolly succeeded in the 11th district, previously served as chairman of the full Oversight panel.) The subcommittee's chairman will be Rep. James Lankford, a freshman Republican from Oklahoma, and Connolly sent Lankford a memo and letter Thursday proposing a full range of hearings on subjects such as cybersecurity and federal acquisition practices.

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